ÇALHA ON TARGET

Çalha doesn’t score much. Çalha scores a lot. If you consider goals in home matches, the first statement is more applicable. Away from home, you can make a case for the second. AC Milan’s first goal of the season came through Çalhanoğlu, putting Hakan firmly in the spotlight. Previously, the Turkish player hadn’t scored at San Siro since May 2018, when he scored in AC Milan’s 5-1 win against Fiorentina on the last day of the 2017-18 season. Between the match against the Viola and his winner against Brescia, he only netted last November against Luxembourgian side Dudelange in the Europa League. Prior to the match against the Rondinelle, Calha had only scored away from home in 2019: a fantastic strike in Bergamo, a header in Florence and the opener in Ferrara, a goal which gave the Rossoneri hope in their quest to qualify for the Champions League. Yesterday saw him score with his head once more as he added the finishing touch to Suso’s cross. It was thus the same formula as the goal he scored against Fiorentina on 11 May this year, when he got on the end of the Spaniard’s ball to bag the winner at the Franchi. That day, it finished 1-0 to the Rossoneri too.

To suggest that it was Çalhanoğlu’s return to goalscoring would be incorrect considering that he has scored in three of the last five league games when looking back to last season: he found the net against Fiorentina, Spal and Brescia. San Siro really wanted him to score there once again and he did so at the end of the stadium where he first struck for the Rossoneri. It was even in the same corner of the goal. After the break, the Stadio Bentegodi will be our next destination and it was there where Çalhanoğlu scored his first AC Milan goal in October 2017, when the Rossoneri won 4-1. It’s now time for an international break, but Hakan looked focused and motivated in the weeks ahead of the Brescia game and he’ll already be ready and looking to do his best against Hellas Verona.  

The official PUMA match kits for the 2019/20 season are available in the AC Milan Online Store!